1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications systems and, more particularly, to transmitting the same message to a number of different recipients, and to collecting and reporting acknowledgements and responses to the message.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Delivering information via wireline or wireless transmission is becoming increasingly common. The information may be in the form of a telephone call, fax, digital video, multimedia, data (such as e-mail), and the like. As seen in FIG. 1, information, such as stock prices, traffic information, weather reports, airline schedules, and sports scores, may be broadcast from a single source, such as a service provider 30 (not unlike a telephone service provider) over a communications network 32 to a number of recipients (users) via wireline and wireless transmission media. The information to be transmitted may be provided by a third party, with the service provider transmitting the information in exchange for a fee. The wireline transmission media may be, for example, a switched communications network, the Internet, or other wireline network. The wireless media may be connected to the wireline transmission media and may be, for example, cellular phone networks or PCS (personal communications services) networks. (A glossary of acronyms is attached as an Appendix.)
A user may be any communications services customer having a communications terminal 34, such as a wireline telephone 34A, fax machine 34B, personal computer 34C, cellular telephone 34D, personal digital assistant (PDA) 34E, or digital video interface device 34F, as is illustrated in FIG. 1. Note that in FIG. 1, wireless communications are indicated with a dashed line.
FIG. 2 is a greatly simplified illustration of a communications network 32. The described communications system is similar to other types of communications networks and is described to provide background to the following discussion of the invention; it is not intended to limit the invention to use with the described communications system. The communications network 32 includes a signaling network 102, which supports a switched communications network. A switched communications network may be, for example, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or an Integrated Signaling Digital Network (ISDN). The signaling network 102 is used for exchange of call set-up and other call maintenance information. Once a call is set up via the signaling network, the voice signal is connected over a separate network called a "trunk". The signaling network 102 may be connected to a wireless communications system 104.
An illustrative signaling network 102 includes (among other things) a network database 106, which may be a service control point (SCP). A network server 106, such as an intelligent peripheral (IP), may be connected to the SCP 105. The IP may a Bellcore proprietary Intelligent Services Peripheral. A database called a Home Location Register (HLR) 107 is part of the signaling network. The HLR 107 is connected via link 108 to a Regional Signaling Transfer Point (RSTP) 110. The RSTP 110 is connected via a number of links 112 to several Local Signaling Transfer Points (LSTPs) 114. Each LSTP 114 is connected via a number of local links 116 to a number of switches, such as Service Switching Points (SSP) 118. The SSP 118 connects to customer premises to provide for premises equipment, such as a wireline telephone 34A, fax 34B, or personal computer 34C. An SSP 118 may also connect to one or more Mobile Switching Centers (MSC), Wireless Switching Centers (WSC), or Radio Port Control Units (RPCU) 126, which are part of the wireless communications system 104. The MSC (or WSC or RPCU) 126 is connected to a number of Base Stations (BS) (or Radio Ports (RP)) 128, which monitor a "cell" (or "coverage area") 130. One or more MSC 126 are connected to a second database called the Visiting Location Register (VLR) 132.
The HLR 107 contains a database maintained by a user's local telecommunications service provider at the user's home location. This database includes information about the user, called the user profile. The VLR 132 is maintained by a telecommunications service provider at the location currently visited by a portable device user and portable device, such as cellular telephone 34D or PDA 34E. Either the VLR 132 or the SCP 105 may include a database of user specific information called a Call Processing Record (CPR) 134 (FIG. 2 shows the CPR 134 in the SCP 105). The CPR contains user specified information instructing the communications network how to service that user's incoming communications. The CPR may include, for example, call forwarding, call screening, or call blocking (e.g., "do not disturb") information.
Information services, such as those described in relation to FIG. 1, often send messages containing identical information over dialed communication paths to a number of clients. For example, many clients may commute to work by driving from New Jersey into New York City. These clients may want to know the traffic conditions around the Lincoln Tunnel at 8:30 a.m. Currently, if five hundred clients want this information at the same time, five hundred separate dailed communications must be made. This is inefficient and may be unsuitable for several reasons. First, the volume of transmissions is a burden on the signaling, switching, and trunk resources of the communications network. Second, if the information is time sensitive (such as traffic conditions, stock prices during trading hours, current weather conditions), the information may be "stale" and inaccurate before the five hundredth client is notified.
Current technology does not solve these dialed "transmission of identical messages" problems. Some fax machines, for example, have a broadcast capability. This allows the same facsimile image to be sent to a number of preselected destinations programmed into the fax machine. This saves the sender the trouble of feeding the faxed document into the machine several times. However, the faxes are still transmitted by making separate phone calls. This does not relieve the burden on the communications network or solve the information "staleness" problem.
Some manufacturers have developed special equipment for delivering a single voice call to several recipients. This equipment is installed outside of the communications network. This equipment typically consists of a computer, voice peripheral, and interface cards and is attached to a PSTN switch such as an SSP 118. This equipment, however, places individual, consecutively dialed telephone calls to each recipient. Some PSTN systems provide the client with speed-dialing lists or voice recognition software (which may dial a user's home phone number, for example, by recognizing the spoken words "call home") which may be accessed over the telephone lines. These speed dialing lists save the user the trouble of dialing (or remembering) certain telephone numbers. However, these speed dialing and voice recognition services still place one call at a time. Thus, these services do not relieve the burden on the communications network or solve the information "staleness" problem.
Some voice mail systems which may be installed in a private branch exchange (PBX) allow a single outgoing message to be delivered to a number of voice-mail boxes at one time. This is limited, however, to voice mail boxes within the PBX. The delivery of voice mail to telephone numbers and voice mail boxes outside the PBX require separate, individual telephone calls.
None of these systems provides a way to respond to the message (if a response is requested) other than the conventional transmission (i.e., a return telephone call, fax, e-mail, etc.). For all of these current technologies, the response messages will also use up valuable signaling, switching, and trunk resources. Thus, although these technologies provide some convenience to the sender, they provide little or no convenience to the recipient, and do little or nothing to reduce the burden on the communications network.
The market for information services is large. On the other hand, market research indicates that potential customers may place strict limitations on the amount they are willing to pay for these services.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a communications network architecture which efficiently uses network resources for distinct dialed communication paths to send a single message to a plurality of destinations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a communications network architecture which helps to solve the information "staleness" problem when sending a single message to a plurality of destinations.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a communications network architecture which may send a single message to a plurality of destinations in an economical manner.
It is an even further object of the present invention to provide a method for collecting acknowledgements and/or responses to a number of dialed transmissions of a single message to plural recipients.